🎆 Happy New Year! 🎆
Thank you all for the amazing support throughout this year. 💙To celebrate the arrival of the new year, here is a special New Year code:
🎁 Code:NewYear: F3B16
📅 Code validity:
Start: December 30, 2025 at 11:55 p.m.
End: January 2, 2026 at 11:00 p.m.
Enjoy it and let's start this new year strong. 🚀✨Here's to an amazing 2026! 🎉
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"Against my Magmar, do you think you can win with just a Shellder?"
Elias Drayton's brows furrowed. He felt belittled, and that sensation was deeply unpleasant.
"You'll see in battle!"
"Shellder, use Water Gun as a greeting shot!"
Ethan Black smiled faintly, saying nothing more, and gave the direct order.
Shellder opened its wide mouth; water-type energy condensed inside, and a powerful stream of water burst forth.
"Flamethrower!"
Magmar, at the front, spewed fire, which turned into a blazing tongue of flame that clashed against the Water Gun.
Boom!
In midair, water and fire collided violently. After an explosion, both attacks reached a tense stalemate, releasing a dense white mist.
"Hydro Pump!"
Ethan Black's eyes gleamed, and without waiting for the fog to dissipate, he gave the next command.
Shellder, in perfect sync with its trainer, let a psychic glow flash in its eyes. Its mental power expanded, locating Magmar hidden within the mist, and fired off Hydro Pump.
Boom!
Magmar was blasted out of the steam cloud by the torrent, crashing hard against the protective barrier.
"This...!"
"That Shellder was able to locate Magmar in the middle of the fog!"
The perfect hit from Hydro Pump drew surprised exclamations from the crowd.
Even Magmar's trainer, now with a serious expression, no longer dared to underestimate the Shellder before him.
"Magmar, use Fire Blast!"
Magmar quickly got back up. The flames on its body instantly evaporated the water, and with its mouth wide open, it released a gigantic fire blast in the shape of the character "大," descending like a burning slab onto Shellder.
"Block it with Barrier!"
Shellder watched the attack calmly. A flash lit up in its eyes, and a translucent barrier formed before it.
Though it was just a barrier, it was packed with much denser energy than usual, as if several layers had been stacked together.
Ethan Black had always trained Shellder to practice increasing the thickness of its barriers. And ever since the little one had mastered the Psychic-type move Hidden Power, its mental control had reached a new level, perfecting that training.
Boom!
The Fire Blast surged forward powerfully, but just as it was about to hit, it suddenly stopped, as if it had struck something invisible.
"Send it back!"
Shellder's eyes glowed, and its psychic power adhered to the barrier, pushing it forward and sending the Fire Blast back.
"What's going on?"
"Is that Confusion? But Shellder shouldn't be able to learn that!"
The crowd was astonished to see the fire-type move slowly being repelled.
"It's Barrier! Shellder's evolutionary line can learn it."
A spectator, seeing the reflection in the barrier, shouted out the confirmation.
"Hmph, cheap tricks! Magmar, use Fire Punch!"
Elias Drayton snorted, and Magmar charged forward. With its flaming fist, it struck straight through the Fire Blast. The flames fused with its fist, concentrating into it.
Boom!
With a brutal blow, the barrier shattered.
Magmar, not stopping, charged straight at Shellder.
Crash!
Crash!
Shellder created several consecutive barriers, but all of them were smashed apart by punches.
"Shellder, use Aqua Ring!"
Just as Magmar closed in, a ring of water surrounded Shellder, slowly flowing around it.
"Go, Magmar!"
Ignoring the water, Magmar threw another flaming punch.
Boom!
But this time, the blow stopped dead in the air. The barrier didn't break.
"Counter Shield!"
Ethan Black's eyes sharpened.
Shellder's eyes glowed blue, and the Aqua Ring began spinning rapidly, forming a vortex that lunged toward Magmar.
Ssshh!
The water hissed upon contact with Magmar's flames, releasing clouds of steam.
The aquatic whirl spun faster and faster, battering the opponent's body and pulling it into the vortex of the Counter Shield.
"No, we've fallen into the trap! Magmar, get out of there, quickly!"
Elias Drayton's face changed drastically. He immediately understood: the earlier weak barriers hadn't been fragility, but bait to lure Magmar into close combat.
Only the final barrier, the one that stopped the Fire Punch, had been real. And at that moment, Magmar had already fallen into the trap.
"Graaah!"
Magmar resisted the water with all its strength, cloaking itself in fire to fight against the current.
"Shellder, create a whirlpool!"
Ethan Black's eyes gleamed with resolve.
Shellder obeyed. Its psychic energy reinforced both the Aqua Ring and Magmar's body.
Suddenly, Magmar's feet slipped, and its entire body was sucked into a gigantic whirlpool of water. The torrent lifted it upward in a spiraling motion, spinning it uncontrollably into the sky.
"Magmar!"
Elias Drayton turned pale. His fire-type Pokémon was trapped in a completely lethal attack.
Even though it struggled desperately, Magmar's resistance was useless.
"Finish it!"
With a gesture from Ethan Black, Shellder controlled the whirlpool with its psychic power, hurling Magmar's body against the stadium's protective barrier.
The impact left it sprawled on the ground, unable to rise.
(End of chapter)